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 black gold
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.Latte to go - exposing the coffee trade. Ever since Michael Moore hung out with Roger, the vogue has been for investigative documentaries to make their point through a camera-hogging personality - think Morgan Spurlock stuffing hamburgers into his mouth and Al Gore trying to prove that he can hang with the cool kids by talking about air. So Nick and Mark Francis, the fraternal team behind Black Gold, go against the grain (or should that be bean) in making a documentary on the coffee industry that doesn’t actually feature the two Londoners prancing around in front of the camera.  Black Gold’s mild-mannered duo wanted to make a documentary that doesn’t bang you over the head with ego or calls to action, but gives a considered overview of how the coffee that you drink in your local chain is unlikely to be benefiting the coffee pickers of Ethiopia. The financial plight of coffee growers is so bad there that the Francis Brothers say, “There was a prediction made a few years ago that Chat, this lethal narcotic, will overtake coffee as Ethiopia’s main source of income. Because the price being paid to farmers is so low that there is no incentive to grow what experts say is regarded as the champagne of coffee.” In making their point, the duo take us on a voyage around the world, from the farms of Ethiopia to the headquarters of Illy coffee in Italy, the financial markets of London and New York, and even the very first Starbucks in Seattle. The duo even show a fair-handed side by letting the manager of the said Starbucks wax lyrical about how great it is to work there.  Already, as a direct result of the film, someone attending the world premier at Sundance got out his wallet and wrote a $10,000 cheque to fund a school in Africa, and small coffee companies are thinking more about their ethical buying policies. Kraft and Starbucks have also tried to pre-empt any fallout, making encouraging noises, and the movie’s main protagonist, Manager of Ethiopia’s Oromia Coffee Farmers' Co-operative Union, Tadesse Meskela, met with Tony Blair for discussions. The film ends with a call to visit their website, and, let’s face it, a click on the mouse is a hell of a lot cheaper, yet worth more, than a skinny grande decaf soy mocha frappaccino with vanilla flavouring.
Kaleem Aftab
Black Gold, on selected release 15 June 07.
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see also
 michael mooreinterview  morgan spurlockinterview  an inconvenient truth review
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